There was a movie a few years ago in which government agents had a little hand-held device like a flashlight. When they put it up to someone’s face, it flashed and they forgot everything that had just happened.
It was a pretty slick tool, and a lot of politicians apparently think they have one today because they are trying to make us forget what they did back in 2010 when they passed Obamacare.
Right now Congress is arguing about who should pay for the skyrocketing cost of the insurance. Democrats are doing everything they can to blame Republicans for refusing to help. They act like it just happened and they’re trying to help us. Actually, they promised when they passed the law that it would bring down insurance premiums. Remember that?
President Obama promised that his plan “would finally reduce the costs of healthcare.” Then he said, “Families will save on their premiums.” I hate to break it to you, Mr. President, but premiums have gone up 80%, from an average of $13,000 to nearly $24,000 and deductibles have increased over 50% since your bill was passed.
Remember when they assured us that healthcare would be easier to get? Yeah, not so much. In fact, the provider networks have grown increasingly restrictive and healthcare monopolies have multiplied. Maybe that’s why the insurance companies were all for Obama’s plan.
Another way they sold the Obama scheme was by putting a cap on insurance company profits. That’ll show those profit-hungry corporations! But, it seems those rascals found ways to evade the cap by buying doctors’ practices and pharmacies and such to channel profits through them. Don’t take my word for it. A certified liberal like Senator Elizabeth Warren explained it to the HHS Inspector General in 2023. She rightfully observed that “Consumers and taxpayers foot the bill for these games.”
Well, maybe it didn’t work exactly as they promised but at least America is healthier now, right? By now I think you know the answer. Sadly, life expectancy in the US has gone down since Obamacare was passed as compared to comparable countries like Canada, the U.K., Australia, Japan, France and Germany. A study of the Kaiser Family Foundation concluded “The U.S. has the lowest life expectancy among large wealthy countries while it far outspends its peers on healthcare.”
This is another example of how government doesn’t do complex plans very well. They can take our money from us and give it to other people but planning and instituting a plan for something as complex as the American health care system is beyond the ability of bureaucrats.
Democrats are blaming the Republicans for not voting to spend billions to bail out the failing system that they invented. It reminds me of the brothers who, when convicted of murdering their parents, begged for mercy because they were orphans.
In debating extension of the subsidies to pay for Obamacare, Democrats hope we’ll forget the promises they made to us when they foisted this monster on us. And they certainly want us to forget that the bill passed with NO Republican votes. I wonder if the Democrats will try to slip some money in the next defense budget for a flashlight that makes us forget what they promised us?
Harry Bulkeley is a retired judge in Knox County.
This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: Forgotten promises of the Affordable Health Care Act | Opinion
Reporting by Harry Bulkeley, Special to the Galesburg Register-Mail / Galesburg Register-Mail
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